West of Dead

Thanks to a moody atmosphere and precise mechanics, West of Dead perfectly wraps the tense feeling of cover shooting around a solid roguelike core.

Exploring the Frontiersman's afterlife.

Upstream Arcade’s West of Dead is an impressive roguelike. With a solid twin-stick shooting system, West of Dead has a more than serviceable gameplay loop. However, the game is truly anchored by it’s incredible visuals and art design. Add on top of this an excellent voice performance and unique sense of worldbuilding, and you’ve got a roguelike formidable in any standoff.

West of Dead shakes up the roguelite formula with its fantastic cover system, but it's more than that. With the addition of Ron Pearlman voicing William Mason, a stylistic cel-shaded art style and a captivating story to uncover, West of Dead is a winning combination that will have you as happy as a pup with two tails.

Challenging yet rewarding, with some unique atmosphere and voice acting thrown into the mix.

I was intrigued by West of Dead the moment I saw it announced at X019. Maybe it was the art style, maybe it was the stop-and-pop cover shooting, or maybe I’m just a sucker for Westerns. Either way, there was a lot that looked good about the game and I have been looking for a faster-paced and punchier Western after playing games like Read Dead Redemption 2 and Desperados III.

The art is in learning enemy patterns, hazards and a weapon combination that suits your play style. For those who also like the extra thrill of the challenge, there are lost souls throughout the game that give you their “burden”. This burden is effectively an insta-death curse than can only be lifted once you kill 6 enemies without being hit. Upon accepting the burden, you receive a bunch of weapons, abilities and upgrades of your choosing to sort through. So it’s not all for sheer challenge. West of Dead is a really enjoyable game that hooks you with its combat. While the idea of starting all...

West of Dead has plenty of great gunplay and a fascinating setting, but be prepared to die and put up with an unrelentingly unfriendly continue system.

West of Dead elevates its experience thanks to to the storytelling and art design. Some aspects of the game can be frustrating, but the total package is generally rewarding in its gameplay and beautiful in its design. And as William Mason himself says, "they say a hero dies only once, but I say a hero keeps coming back," and coming back for each playthrough in hopes to finally pull off that perfect run is a mighty fine time in West of Dead.

Through it all though, I’m still going back and playing it. The live, die, repeat roguelite mechanic has its hooks in me and although it’s frustrating at times, I’m working through gritted teeth to unlock more items to help me in future runs. The aesthetic beauty of the game helps keep me going as well as the music but I only wish some more tweaking had been done to some of the shootout mechanics. If you pumped hours upon hours into Enter the Gungeon then chances are you’ll find a similar grab in West of Dead, but be fair warned that there isn’t as much polish here. If it helps, it is launch...

A run-of-the-mill procedural twin-stick roguelike that has a unique aesthetic and premise, but little else. Without more content, more variety, and more exciting unlockables, West of Dead is dead in the water. Or will remain in gaming purgatory. Either way, I have very little faith in West of Dead’s future.

West of Dead brings some interesting ideas to the well-trod Rogue-lite scene, but lots of technical and design flaws make it hard to enjoy them.